In our lives, we’re all faced with questions we’re forced to answer again and again. For me, it’s “Do you dye your beard?” and “Do you know you look like Charlie Day?” Well, the answers are “No, I don’t; I’m not sure why it grows in red” and “Sort of, I don’t totally see it, but I get that a lot.” For Wooden Wand, a.k.a. James Jackson Toth, it’s “Are you a wizard?” I’m sure that gets annoying, but it’s a fair question. Wizards use wands! Wooden Wand is called Wooden Wand! He could be a wizard! Though, I suppose the question should be “Are you friends with wizards?” since a wand is not a wizard. Let’s not be ridiculous. James Jackson Toth is a person, so he can’t truly be a wand, but he can be a wizard.
So now that we’re not being ridiculous: If Toth is a wizard, then consider his spells. (Or don’t.) He’s got a new “spell” (ALBUM) coming out January 8 through Fire Records. It’s called Blood Oaths of the New Blues, which if you were trying to convince people you’re not a wizard, Mr. James Jackson Toth, then that’s a bad title to go with! In fact, that’s some classic wizard-naming right there. Some people associated with Wooden Wand would describe Blood Oaths of the New Blues (STILL VERY WIZARDY) as the “Sunday morning ‘wake and bake’ record to [2011’s] critically acclaimed Briarwood LP’s Saturday night revelry.” Now, if you want to distance yourself from wizards, descriptions like that are probably the way to go. Wizards do not say things like “wake and bake.” They also probably do not typically record albums in Alabama, which is where Blood Oaths was recorded, but maybe that’s just what wizards want you to think.
As a first sample of the new record, Toth has (probably) put a bunch of magical stuff into a cauldron, stirred it up, and came up with an MP3 of “Southern Colorado Song,” which you can download and stream below. The track focuses on the true story of the Dougherty Gang, a group of Florida fugitive siblings that went on a nine-day crime spree across the US. In fact, the song is narrated through the perspective of one of the gang’s members. This is the sort of perspective that could only be obtained by… a wizard! Or maybe it’s fictionalized. Whatever.
• Wooden Wand: http://www.woodenwand.org
• Fire Records: http://www.firerecords.com
